Occurrence, distribution, and sea-air fluxes of volatile halocarbons in the upper ocean off the northern Antarctic Peninsula in summer

We studied the spatial variations of six volatile halocarbons (VHCs), namely, iodomethane (CH₃I), chloroform (CHCl₃), tetrachloroethylene (C₂Cl₄), bromodichloromethane (CHBrCl₂), dibromomethane (CH₂Br₂), and carbon tetrachloride (CCl₄), and the environmental influencing factors involved in the cycling of VHCs in the upper ocean (0-500 m) off the Northern Antarctic Peninsula (NAP) during the summer of 2018. About 5%-10% of the total biogenic VHCs in the upper ocean were accumulated in the assemblage layer (AL) with high chlorophyll a. However, higher VHCs levels were observed in the dicothermal layer (DL) compared with the AL because of the preservation from winter and production from dinoflagellates and chlorophytes. Owing to the co-existence occurrence of sharp seasonal pycnocline and thick permanent pycnocline, DL could be an important VHCs reservoir in the upper water column during summer. In response to melting of sea ice and glacier, decreased salinity was responsible for ca. 50% of the variation in the CH₂Br₂ and CCl₄ concentrations, which corresponded with increased CH₂Br₂ and CCl₄ concentrations in the less saline water mass. Anthropogenic CCl₄ was found with an average concentration of 44.9 pmol/L, and there was a strong positive relationship between CCl₄ and CHCl₃ in the upper water, indicating their similar source of pollutant transport caused by anthropogenic activities. Calculated sea-to-air fluxes of CCl₄, C₂Cl₄, CHBrCl₂, and CH₂Br₂ averaged 478.7, 93.7, 33.7, and 61.8 nmol/(m²·d) in summer, respectively, indicating that the waters off the NAP are important sources of VHCs for the atmosphere and exert potentially adverse impacts on the Antarctica ozone depletion.

Spatial distributions and environmentally-mediated factors of dimethylsulfoxide off the northern Antarctic Peninsula in summer

Spatial distributions of dissolved and particulate dimethylsulfoxide (DMSOd and DMSOp) were investigated off the northern Antarctic Peninsula during the austral summer of 2018, an ecologically and climatically important region of the world. In the upper waters, DMSOd was concentrated in the ice-melt zone because DMSO functions physiologically as an intracellular osmolyte and cryoprotectant. DMSOd concentrations had a weak positive correlation with temperature but a negative correlation with nutrients. This highlighted the importance of temperature-dependent biological activities and photolysis in DMSOd production and the important role of the intracellular antioxidation system in phytoplankton cells. The decrease of average DMSOp:Chl-a ratios in upper waters from west to east, along with decreasing temperatures and increasing diatoms proportions in the phytoplankton, illustrates how seawater DMSO production capacities depend on ambient temperatures and the composition of phytoplankton assemblages. DMSOp were accumulated in deep waters through bio-debris accumulation and microbial activity.